Big Year 2017

Friday, 13 February 2015

The search for Ardea Purpurea – February 7th

For a couple of weeks I have been trying to see the Ardea
purpurea or Purple Heron.It was first
seen on the final day of 2014 and spotted many times since then by various
birders, except me.I was hoping that
February 7th would be the day I would see it, for it would be my 116th
lifer.

I started my trip, reluctantly, at about 6 am. I say reluctantly because it was a cold, wet
and rainy morning, the type of morning that you would stay in bed and draw close
to your significant other. However, I
was out and on the road. The pull of
Ardea Purpurea was very strong. I substituted
the warmth of my bed for the warmth of a flask of hot chocolate with
marshmallows and two Coconut Shortcake cookies. My plan was to travel to the parish of St.
John with the hope of photographing the sunrise over the freshly cut pastures of
the Redland Plantation.The sun was not
yet awake when I reached Redland, so I decided to head north with the hope of
catching the sunrise from one of the ridges or on the sea cliffs. That plan too, was adjusted upon seeing the
sun rising over a pasture in St. Philip. As I was driving to a vantage point, I stopped
and spent a couple of minutes taking photographs of the sunrise and then headed
off to the WSR.

At WSR

As I drove into to the WSR and parked my car, my 116th
lifer flew right in front of me from the north, and landed on the bank between
the north and the North-West tray, as if it was awaiting my arrival. At last the Ardea Purpurea.I was so surprised to see it, that I had to grab
my camera and start taking photos from my car, which was more than one hundred
meters away.Thereafter I ventured to
the observation hut. The bird seemed smaller
than I expected. It was a dwarf in
comparison to a Great Egret, which was also in the swamp not too far away.The Heron had a reddish brown plumage, with a
long white neck and black lines on the sides. It was not hard to identify. I spent forty five minutes at the WSR
photographing the Purple Heron but because of the distance I was shooting from,
the quality of the photographs were not the best.

I recorded seventeen species that morning but of course, my highlight
was to finally record my 116th lifer the Ardea Purpurea commonly
known as The Purple Heron.